140 Time As A Limitation

Many games use resource management as a main gameplay restriction. Instead, this mechanic would use time as its main restriction, and treat the resource as a unlimited element, the way time is in many other games.

In a famous example, The Sims was played completely differently from what the developers expected at first; many players were much more interested in constructing an interesting and amazing home, but less interested in the act of living out a Sims’ life. So much so that many people may still remember the famous “rosebud” cheat from the game, allowing unlimited funds to build their dream home.

A game might use this same concept as its main hook. The game gives you unlimited (or nearly so) of a certain or multiple resources, and asks you to do something difficult in a set amount of time or less. This concept could be applied to many different game genres.

#game-mechanic/system